MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH grew its stake in Moody's Co. (NYSE:MCO - Free Report) by 302.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 1,429 shares of the business services provider's stock after buying an additional 1,074 shares during the period. MEAG MUNICH ERGO Kapitalanlagegesellschaft mbH's holdings in Moody's were worth $678,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Benjamin Edwards Inc. purchased a new position in Moody's in the first quarter worth $25,000. New Covenant Trust Company N.A. bought a new position in shares of Moody's during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Moody's by 114.3% during the 2nd quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 75 shares of the business services provider's stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 40 shares in the last quarter. Y.D. More Investments Ltd bought a new stake in Moody's in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, Rise Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Moody's in the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. Institutional investors own 92.11% of the company's stock.
A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on MCO. Oppenheimer upped their price objective on shares of Moody's from $492.00 to $536.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 3rd. Royal Bank of Canada lifted their price objective on Moody's from $450.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. UBS Group increased their target price on Moody's from $455.00 to $470.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 24th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on Moody's from $443.00 to $454.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 24th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their target price on shares of Moody's from $460.00 to $514.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Moody's currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $487.77.
View Our Latest Analysis on MCO
NYSE MCO opened at $479.44 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $474.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $433.51. Moody's Co. has a 52 week low of $298.86 and a 52 week high of $495.10. The company has a quick ratio of 1.52, a current ratio of 1.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $87.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 52.34, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 1.29.
Moody's (NYSE:MCO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, July 23rd. The business services provider reported $3.28 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $3.06 by $0.22. Moody's had a return on equity of 57.03% and a net margin of 28.34%. The company had revenue of $1.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $2.30 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 21.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Moody's Co. will post 11.46 earnings per share for the current year.
The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Friday, August 16th were issued a dividend of $0.85 per share. This represents a $3.40 annualized dividend and a yield of 0.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 16th. Moody's's dividend payout ratio is presently 37.12%.
In other Moody's news, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Moody's news, insider Stephen T. Tulenko sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $464.06, for a total transaction of $232,030.00. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,647 shares in the company, valued at $3,084,606.82. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Richard G. Steele sold 1,862 shares of Moody's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $455.43, for a total transaction of $848,010.66. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 1,040 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,647.20. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 2,931 shares of company stock valued at $1,332,825 in the last quarter. 0.07% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Moody's Corporation operates as an integrated risk assessment firm worldwide. It operates in two segments, Moody's Analytics and Moody's Investors Services. The Moody's Analytics segment develops a range of products and services that support the risk management activities of institutional participants in financial markets.
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